INDEPTH: STRIKE
Labour/management lingo
CBC News Online | Feb. 22, 2006
Conciliation
If the union and management fail to reach a new contract through negotiations, either party may file a "notice of dispute" with the appropriate labour minister. Usually, the minister will appoint a conciliation officer, who meets with union and management representatives to help them agree on a new contract.
The conciliation process may take up to 60 days, although the parties can mutually agree to extend this time period.
If there's still no deal, there's a 21-day cooling off period before the union can go on strike or the employer can lock out its employees.
Mediation
Either side can ask the labour minister to appoint a mediator at any time during the process. But it's normally done after the conciliation process has been completed. The appointment of a mediator does not delay the date that the union can go on strike or the employer can lock out its employees.
Arbitration
Both sides may agree that the only way to resolve their dispute is to appoint a third party – an arbitrator. If the two sides can't agree on who they want to act as an arbitrator, they can ask the labour minister to appoint one. Unions and management generally prefer to avoid arbitration, hoping to settle their differences through the process of negotiation. The arbitration process often leads to one side clearly "winning" over the other side, as the arbitrator or arbitration panel can choose one side's proposals over those of the other. Unions representing workers who are prevented by law from striking tend to seek arbitration more often than those representing workers who can strike.
The arbitrator must hand down a decision within 60 days of being appointed – and the decision cannot be appealed.
Strike mandate
The union must go to its membership for permission to call a strike. The union organizes a secret-ballot vote, where it asks its members for the right to go on strike to back its contract demands. The union will tell its members that an overwhelming strike mandate strengthens its bargaining position and that a lukewarm mandate will show management that the union is divided and not as willing to back its demands with drastic action.
Strike deadline
The clock – as they say – is ticking. Once the conciliation process has started, both sides will know when they can either go on strike or lock out their staff. Often, a union will pick a date and declare that it will go on strike if a new contract has not been negotiated by a specified date. The Canadian Auto Workers union does this every time it negotiates a new contract. It not only names a date, it also names which company it target. Usually, once it reaches agreement with one company, negotiations with the others wrap up relatively quickly.
Legal strike/lockout position
If negotiations fail and the conciliation process has run its course, the union can give management three days' notice if it intends to walk out. Management also has to give three days' notice that it intends to lock out its staff.
But filing notice does not necessarily mean that a strike or lockout will occur. If the pace of negotiations picks up, a side that has filed notice can delay acting on it. Still, 72 hours after notice is filed, a strike or lockout is legal.
Strike
When a group of workers withholds services to press demands for improvements in its contract or to try to hang on to gains made in previous contracts, it is staging a legal strike – if the contract has expired and the process of negotiation and conciliation have run their legal course.
Illegal strike
Same as above – except the workers have walked out while still covered by the terms of a contract. Some workers – like police officers, firefighters and members of the military – have been declared essential and are prevented by law from going on strike, even if the terms of their contract have expired. If they walk off the job, they are doing it illegally.
The Rand Formula
In 1946, Justice Ivan Rand of the Supreme Court of Canada was helping to settle a strike at the Ford plant in Windsor. As part of his solution, he recommended that all workers in a union shop should have to pay dues to the union because they all benefit from gains negotiated by the union. In return, the union would face economic penalties if it staged illegal strikes. That became known as the Rand Formula.
Wildcat strike
A sudden or unofficial strike. By the mid-1800s, the term wildcat or wildcatting was widely used to describe risky business ventures or drilling for oil in places not known to contain. By the 1930s, it was also widely used to describe strikes that began with virtually no notice. It's also used to describe illegal strikes – whether workers are prevented by law from striking or they go on strike even though they are still under contract.
Lockout
Sort of a strike in reverse. It's when management decides that further contract negotiations with the union are pointless. If the contract has expired, management can lock out its workforce, applying the same pressure on the union to negotiate that the union applies to management when it goes on strike.
Posted conditions
Neither a strike nor a lockout, management can use this tool if the contract has expired. Management can post new working conditions, changing anything from salaries to hours worked, that employees have to follow if they want to continue working.
Tentative agreement
After weeks and months of face-to-face talks, with a strike deadline just minutes away, the two sides reach an agreement on terms of a new contract. The deal is tentative until it is ratified by the union membership and the company's representatives, usually the board of directors. If one or both sides don't ratify, it's back to the bargaining table or – if the strike/lockout deadline has passed – it may be off to the picket line.
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